Roasted Savory Chickpeas

Roasted Savory Chickpeas

You can eat them plain, sprinkle them on salads or add them to trail mix 

Drain and rinsed a can of chickpeas.

Then spread the beans out on a cookie sheet with foil, and dried them with a towel.

Then spray with olive oil, sprinkled salt and any seaoning you like. 

Roasted in the oven at 400 degrees for about 25-30 minutes.

Peanut Butter Cookies (Less fat and Less sugar)

1/4 c granulated sugar
1/4 c packed brown sugar
1/2 c natural peanut butter
1/4 c regular peanut butter
1/4 c shortening
1/8 c butter or margarine (softened)
1/8 c apple sauce
1 large egg
1 1/4 c Oat flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
Granulated sugar

1. Heat over to 375 degrees
2. Place all ingredients in a mixer (or use hand mixer) and mix
3. Shape dough into balls (aprox 1 1/4 in). Place about 3 inches apart on uncreased cookie sheet. Flatten in crisscross pattern with fork dippen in granulated sugar
4. Bake 6-9 minutes or until light brown.
5. Cool on wire rack

Cinnamon Swirl Bread (Bread Machine Recipe)

Directions: Use the Rich Egg Bread recipe for the bread part of this recipe (below the recipe and the post just before this one)

Instead of making this completely in the bread machine you will only make the dough in the machine.

Extra ingredients
1/2 c Raisins (can be omitted)
1/4 c fine sugar
1 1/2 tsp Ground Cinnamon
butter, margarine, or oil to coat
Bread pan (9x5x3 or 8 1/2x 4 1/2x2 1/2)

Grease the bread pan.

After you have placed all the dough ingredients in the machine, you will wait for it to single to place the raisins in.

Mix sugar and Cinnamon together and set on side to be used later.

When dough is done gently push fist into dough to deflate. Place on floured surface. Use either your hands or rolling pin to flatten into a rectangle 18x9 inch (9 inch is about the length of a bread pan). Brush dough with oil/butter/margarine and sprinkle with the sugar and cinnamon mixture.

Roll dough up tightly, beginning at 9 inch side. Pinch edge of dough into roll to seal. Press each end with side of hand to seal; fold ends under loaf. Place loaf, seam side down in pan. cover loosely with with a cloth or plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place for about 1 hour or until doubles.

Move oven rack to middle of the oven. Heat oven to 375 degrees. Bake bread for 30-35 minutes or until load is deep golden brown and sounds hollow when tapped.

When bread is done, remove from pan to wire rack. Brush loaf with butter and cool.


Rich Egg Bread
The original recipe I found in the Betty Crocker Cookbook (Red Book). I've made a few alterations to the recipe.

3 1/4 c Whole Wheat Flour (I grind my own---I want to know what's in my flour)
1/4 c Organic Sugar
1 1/2 tsp Salt
1 package regular or quick active dry yeast (2 1/4 tsp)
1 c + 2Tbsp Very Warm Water (120-130 degrees)
2Tbsp + 2tsp  Oil
1 large Egg

There are two ways that you can do this using a bread machine;
A) Where I live, the altitude is high, so how I make this bread is
1. Place Sugar, Salt, Water, Yeast, and oil in the bread machine pan---allow to sit for 6 minutes---this will help your bread to rise nicely---you'll notice after the time is done there is foam in the pan, that's the yeast activated
2. Add the egg and than the flour
3. If you are making the Cinnamon Swirl Bread you will be setting the machine to dough

B) Back in NY where the altitude is below or at sea level I just read the instructions that the bread machine came with for bread and it always worked---

Rich Egg Bread

The original recipe I found in the Betty Crocker Cookbook (Red Book). I've made a few alterations to the recipe.

3 1/4 c Whole Wheat Flour (I grind my own---I want to know what's in my flour)
1/4 c Organic Sugar
1 1/2 tsp Salt
1 package regular or quick active dry yeast (2 1/4 tsp)
1 c + 2Tbsp Very Warm Water (120-130 degrees)
2Tbsp + 2tsp  Oil
1 large Egg

There are two ways that you can do this using a bread machine;
A) Where I live, the altitude is high, so how I make this bread is
1. Place Sugar, Salt, Water, Yeast, and oil in the bread machine pan---allow to sit for 6 minutes---this will help your bread to rise nicely---you'll notice after the time is done there is foam in the pan, that's the yeast activated
2. Add the egg and than the flour
3. Set the bread machine to Whole Wheat Bread

B) Back in NY where the altitude is below or at sea level I just read the instructions that the bread machine came with for bread and it always worked---

Minute Tapioca

My husband loves this recipe--it's one of his favorite desserts. I used organic ingredients in this recipe---I think that's the secret of why it tastes so darn good.

This is a wonderful dessert to serve with fresh fruit as a garnish. It would be a nice compliment to a heavy meal. It also would be a good recipe for when surprize guess come over, becuase it can be made up very quickly.

1 Egg
1/2 Sugar
1/8 tsp Salt
2 3/4 c Milk
3 Tbsp Tapioca (instant)
3/4 tsp Vanilla

Blend one beaten egg, sugar, salt, milk, Tapioca. Heat 5 minutes over medium heat, stir constantly until it boils. Add vanilla (5 servings)

You can serve this warm or cold. If you want it cold in a hurry you can place it in the freezer for a few minutes--make sure you don't forget it. I've placed it outside in the snow to cool it quickly.

Sourdough Pancakes

I've been doing a lot of experimenting since my last post about the sourdough attack.

I've created 2 sourdough pancakes that taste pretty dang good. Both recipes are nice and fluffy.

Whole Wheat Sourdough Pancakes (make approx 11 medium pancakes)
1c sourdough starter
2 Tbs oil
1 egg (large)
2 Tbs maple syrup (you can use white or brown sugar instead, but I prefer maple syrup)
3/4 c wheat flour
1/4 tsp salt
approx 1/2c milk (you may need more depending on how thick the batter is--it should have the constancy of a pancake batter)
1 tsp baking soda

Combine all ingredients except the baking soda---after stirring the batter and making sure it isn't too thick let it stand for 15 min. After 15 min gently stir in the baking soda. The baking soda will make the batter rise. Once all ingredients have been added and stirred than place on hot griddle. To make the pancakes crisp on the outsides use a small amount of oil in the pan before each pancake.

Quick and Easy Sourdough Pancakes (make approx 11 medium pancakes)
1c sourdough starter
2 Tb oil
1 egg
1 1/2c pancake mix (I used Aunt Jamima's Butter Milk Pancake Mix)
approx 1/2c milk (you may need more depending on how thick the batter is--it should have the constancy of a pancake batter)

Combine all ingredients and stir. Add milk if needed to get the right constancy. Let batter sit for about 15 min. After 15 min place on hot griddle. To make the pancakes crisp on the outsides use a small amount of oil in the pan before each pancake.To make the pancakes crisp on the outsides use a small amount of oil in the pan before each pancake.

You may wonder why the batter needs to sit for 15 min. The 15 min gives the sourdough time to work it's way through the recipe. If you don't let it sit for 15 min, it will not have the sourdough flavor that you're looking for.

Explosions

The explosion occurred approximately at 9pm. Damage assessment: guts all over the kitchen, what a mess.

The question: how did this all start?

I had been experimenting again in the kitchen when the accident occurred. About 2 weeks ago I captured a living organism in a large canning jar and had been feeding it since. Every day it needed to be fed and every day it got larger. Dan suggested to me that I shouldn't give it any more food because he said it was getting too big. It devoured every thing I fed it---it particularly liked sugar. Once I fed it it would ooze with satisfaction. I kept it in the bathroom due to it's desire to be in a dark, warm, moist area---I should have known that it was up to something in there, spending so much time in the dark.

Yesterday I went against what my husband suggested and fed it. It had tricked me into thinking that it was starving, due to it's confines in the refrigerator the other day. I knew I didn't have time to feed it Sunday and so I placed it in the fridge to stave off it's insatiable appetite. Monday when I looked at it, it had become small and sunken in giving the illusion of starvation. Feeling remorse that I had not fed it Sunday and seeing it's condition Monday I fed it. I fed it with more than 2 cups of food and water.

Within two hours I heard suspicious sounds coming from the bathroom. When I went in to investigate the sounds I noticed a small puddle underneath the bottle and that the bottle was filled to the top. I was worried that the organism was escaping, but was comforted to noticed that it was only liquid coming from the bottle. I found a bowl large enough to place the bottle in so that if the organism decided to try to escape it would only be able to go as far a the bowl--surely it wouldn't know how to climb the bowls edge.

Several hours later I noticed that the organism was in the bowl, but still not worried that it would escape.

After my husband came home and we were eating he asked me if I heard any odd sounds coming from the house. I didn't notice any sounds so we continued to eat. Dinner time was done and I went into the bathroom to check the laundry (our machine is in the bathroom) and there on the counter top where the bottle and bowl (containing the organism) was hissing loudly. The lid was bulging. The organism wanted to be set free.

The organism calmed my troubled heart by reassuring me that it didn't want to be set free but it just needed more fresh air. It felt like it was suffocating. It would calm down if I would just open the bottle just a little to get fresh air.

I took the bottle (and bowl) into the kitchen and preceded to open it. At first I couldn't open it due to the pressure on the lid. In desperation I took a towel around the lid to help me get a better grip on it. Finally I felt the lid give way. A force that I could not stop exploded out of the bottle and the organism was free---it exploded onto the wall, stove, cupboard, sink, mixer, can opener, clean dishes and all other surfaces in the area.

Thank goodness it was only sourdough and it was fairly easy to clean up.

If you want to capture your own sourdough here is a nice video that will show you how to do that
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cusjbAtGzvg
If this way doesn't work for you try my cheating way, the same way that bread makers make it for Ciabatta Bread
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YX_6l2bmvQI

This is what sourdough starter will look like
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hw8T-h0tcpI&feature=related



The different types of recipes that I have made with this starter are; pancakes, biscuits, muffins, and bread. If you Google sourdough recipes, you'll find tons of things to make with your starter